Container and closure therefor



April 1954 M. A. RAUN ETAL 2,675,040

CONTAINER AND CLOSURE THEREFOR Fil ed Dec. 22, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet l RMWWREE ATTO/P/VEV April 13, 1954 M. A. RAUN ET AL CONTAINER AND CLOSURETHEREFOR Filed Dec. 22, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i atented Apr. 13, 1954CONTAINER AND CLOSURE THEREFOR Milton A. Raun and Theodore P. Steinmetz,Baltimore, Md., assignors to the United States of America as representedby the Secretary of the Army Application December 22, 1952, Serial No.327,462

(Granted under iitle 35, U. S. Code (1952).

sec. 266) 3 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manu factured and used by or forthe Government of the United States of America for governmental purposeswithout the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

The invention herein disclosed is a modification of the Bleach Containerdisclosed in the application of Fred B. Shaw, Jr., Serial No. 295,379filed June 24, 1952.

This invention relates generally to a container and a closure therefor,and particularly to closures of the snap-on type. It is an object ofthis invention to provide a container and a closure therefor which issnapped thereon to close the container, and which is turned relative tothe container to line up index points, one oi which is on the containerand the other on the closure, and lifted away from the container to openthe container.

It is another object of the invention to provide a container and aclosure therefor wherein the closure forms a positive lock with thecontainer when it is mounted thereon.

It is a specific object of this invention to provide a container and aclosure therefor wherein the parts are made of a plastic material whichis moldable, flexible, and physically strong.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the container and closure showing theparts separated prior to mounting the closure on the container.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken through a portion of thecontainer and the closure just prior to the closure being snapped on thecontainer.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the parts during the step ofsnapping the closure on the container.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the parts after the closurehas been snapped on the container.

Fig. 5 is a plan view, with portions broken away, of the container withits closure mounted thereon in locked position.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 8-6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. '7 is a plan view, with portions broken away, of the container withits closure mounted thereon after the closure has been rotated relativeto the container and the index lines on the parts lined up.

Fig. 81s a sectional view taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken on line 9-! of Fig. 7. i

In Fig 1, the container is indicated generally;

by reference numeral 10 and the closure by reference numeral I2.Container It comprises bottom wall It (see Fig. 6) and upwardlyextending, comically-shaped, side wall It. The upper end of container H1is open, and the upper edge [8 of side Wall l6 surrounds the opening andhas a plurality of arcuate mounting lugs l9 spaced about its periphery.In a sense, the mounting lugs may be considered as portions of aninterrupted flange. As can be best seen in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, themounting lugs l9 have an upwardly facing, inclined surface 20 and adownwardly facing, horizontal surface 2!. Container It and closure l2may be made of any suitable material, metallic or non-metallic, which ismoldable, flexible and physically strong; a particularly desirablematerial is glass-fiber reinforced, polyester resin or its equivalent.These resins are discussed in more detail in the application of Fred B.Shaw, Jr., cited above.

The closure l2 constitutes top wall 22 which has a centrally disposed,elongated, recessed portion 24 formed therein and an offset peripheral.portion 26 that merges with skirt 28, as can be.- best seen in Figs. 1,5 and 7. Recessed portion. 2-4 constitutes a gripping means which isadapted to receive an appropriate tool when the closure I2: is turnedrelative to the container in removing: the closure on the container, aswill subsequent- 1y become apparent. Skirt 28 is non-circular; itcomprises a plurality of spaced arcuate portions; 35 and a plurality ofenlarged, intermediaten arcuate portions 32 having a larger radius thanportions 30 (see particularly Figs. 1 and 5). Enlarged portions 32 haveflange-like projections 33 formed at their lower edges which extendradially inwardly to a point where the inner edges of said projectionsdefine a continuous circle with the inner surfaces of portions 30 (thiscan best be seen in Fig. 1). Each projection 33 is parallel to top wall22 and has a beveled edge 34 formed on its lower side for a purposewhich As can be will subsequently become apparent. best seen in Fig. 1,the enlarged portions 32 and their respective projections 33 formpockets 35,

the enlarged portions 32 of the closure and the mounting lugs IQ of thecontainer, and the manner in which they cooperate with each other in thesequence of steps of mounting the closure on the container. The closureis actually snapped 3 on the container in a single step, however for thesake of clarity, Figs. 2, 3 and 4, which show three views of thepositions that the parts assume during the snapping on of the closure,are herein arbitrarily designated as steps. Fig. 2 shows one of theenlarged. portions. 32 aligned with one of the mounting lugs I9 justprior to snapping the closure I2 on the container I0. It should beunderstood that all of the enlarged portions and their associatedmounting lugsfunction in the same manner. edges 34' of the projections33 cooperate with the inclined surfaces of the mounting lugs I9 tofacilitate mounting of the closure on the container. The application offorce in the direction of the unnumbered arrow shown in Fig. 2 moves theclosure toward the container to the position shown in Fig. 3.

the upper edge E8 of the container flexes inwardly, in'the vicinitywhere the mounting lugs I9 contact the projections 33 of the enlargedpor: tions 32.. Continued application of force inthe directionof theunnumbered arrowshown in Fig, 3 causes the closure to be forced closer.to. the."

container and flexes the parts still further until the flat uppersurfaces-35 of the projections 33 clear theapices formed by the inclinedsurfaces 20 andflat surfaces 2I of the mounting. lugs I9.

At this time, the.parts move to the positions shown in'Figs. 4,:5 and.6, wherein each of the mounting lugs I9 is positionedwithin a pocket 35formed in one of the enlarged portions 32.. In this position, theflat,upper surfaces 36 of the projections 33 contact the flat surfaces ZI oithe mounting lugs I9 and thereby prevent separation of the parts byaxial force. In this position the closure is considered to be locked. onthe corn tainer.

It should be noted-thatduringthis movement the skirt 28 flexesoutwardly, and

It will be observed ,thatbeveled,

From Fig. 1 it will be observed that there is i.

steps of snapping theclosure on. the container;, the index arrows'willbe out of alignment when the closure is mounted on the containerinlocked position (Figs.- 4, 5 and 6). In order to remove the closurefrom-the container, the closure is turned relative to the containeruntil the index arrow 38 on the closure lines up withthe index arow 40on the container; then the closure is pulled away from and off of thecontainer,

Fig. 7 shows the parts after, the ;closure has been turned and the indexarrows, lined up prior to lifting the closure off of I the container.

this figure, it will be observed that each of the mounting lugs I9 hasbeen moved out ,ofits asso,

ciated pocket 35.- It will also be observed that both the container andclosure are distorted, neither of them being circular. is due to thefact that portions 30 of .the closure are positioned radially outwardlyof the mounting lugs I9'of the container in this position, and that theinternal radius of arcuate portions 30 when not distorted is less thanthe external radius of mounting lugs I9- The distortion It necessarilyfollows that-.1

some distortion will result whenthe closure .isturned relative to thecontainer-and the portions 30 of'the closure are forced over themountinglugs I 3. Fig. 8 shows the relative positions of one of the portions 30and one of mounting lugs I9 after the closure has been turned relativeto the container and the index arrows have been lined up, and Fig. 9shows the relationship of one of the enlarged portions 32 and the upperedge i8 of the container wall I6 after the index arrows have been linedup. From Figs. 7 to 9 it will be observed that in this position, closureI2 is retainedon the container I0 solely by friction and that the partsare. actually in unlocked position. It will ,therefore be apparent thatit is simply a matter of Jiftingthev closure off the container toseparate the parts and thereby uncover the container.

From the, above description of the structure and operation of thecontainer and closure it should. beapparentthat we have provided astructural arrangement that satisfies each of the objects of thisinvention. The outstanding attribute of ourinventionis the ease andsimplicity of its operation. To close the container his only necessaryto snap the closure on the ,container; to open the container it is onlynecessary to turn the closure and lift it ofi the container.

It shouldbe noted in this regardthat the material out of which thepartsare made is important. Itv mustbe physically strong to, with..stand rigorous conditions of use, ;suc h,as ,thosea storage containermight be subject to; it. must be inert to the material which it houses,this is 7 important particularly'when certain-chemicalsare stored in thecontainer; it must be sur'ficiently flexible to permit the complexdistortion that-- occurs in the parts when the closure is snapped on thecontainer; and it should be moldabie for ease and economy ofmanufacture. As has been stated, an ideal material is a glassefiberreinforced, polyester resin.

Having fully disclosed our, invention in detail,

it should not therefore be limited to the precise structure shown, formany changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departingfrom the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A receptacle and closure therefor comprise ing a subtsantiallycylindrical container formed of a resilient glass-fiber-reinforcedpolyester.

resin, a plurality of lugs substantially equally spaced about the top ofsaid container, the. lengths of the lugsbeing substantially the same asthe lengths of the spaces between the lugs and reinforced,polyester'resin, said cover comprising a flat peripheral portion mergingwith a dependent skirt, said skirt comprising alternating por-- tions ofsmaller radius andportions of larger radius, said portions of smallerradius forming segments of a smooth cylinder having an internal radiussubstantially the same as the external:

radius of said cylindrical container, said portions of larger radiushaving: an internal radius sub-' stantially the same as the maximumradius of:

saidlugs, an inwardly extending-flange on the bottom of each of saidportions of largerradius,

said fiangeshaving substantiallyplanar top surfaces lying insubstantially the same plane as the bottoms of said lugs and havinginner surfaces constituting segments of a cylinder of a radiussubstantially the same as the outer radius of said cylindricalcontainer, said last named inner surfaces joining the inner surfaces ofsaid portions of smaller radius to form a continuous cylindrical surfaceat the lower portion of said skirt whereby when said cover is in placecontinuous surface contact exists between said cylindrical inner surfaceof said skirt and the outer surface of said container, and means forrotating said cover on said container; the cover and container beingsufficiently resilient to permit said flanges to be pushed down oversaid lugs to secure said cover in place and to permit said portions ofsmaller radius to ride upon said lugs on rotation of said cover, wherebysaid cover may be rotated until said flanges are positioned in the spacebetween said lugs and the cover then lifted from the container.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,216,869 Snigo Feb. 20, 1917 1,459,588 Hoffman June 19, 19231,459,589 Hoffman June 19, 1923 1,943,327 Langdon Jan. 16, 19341,969,486 Kurz Aug. 7, 1934

